Has anyone done a debt management plan and have it adversely affect their credit?

[Anonymous]

I am a little over $12,000 in cc debt. I am current on all my payments (I just pay the minimum) and today after work I have an appointment at an NFCC agency.

Though I am current on all my payments I feel overwhelmed by how much of my income these payments take up a month (over $400/monthly). I was wondering if agreeing to a debt management plan at the agency (where they negotiate lower interest rates and I pay a set amount to them to cover all the cards) would negatively impact my credit score. My credit score isn't great but it isn't bad. It's fair and I want to keep it from going lower as I intend to go back to graduate school this fall and need to take out Graduate Plus loans.

So does anyone know if a debt management plan affect your credit negatively? Or does it not affect it as your accounts remain current since they are being paid?

Some people say that it does not as your accounts will still show up on your credit report as current but others say that doing so does adversely affect it as it freezes up your available credit because signing up for a debt management plan closes your cards.

thoughts?

[MarineVietVet]

Hello and welcome.

Here are several old posts talking about DMP's. Hopefully they can be of some use to you.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Working-out-a-payment-plan/m-p/631956/highlight/true#M2...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/DMP-Questions/m-p/199608/highlight/true#M93771

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/DMP/m-p/597749/highlight/true#M87986

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/DMP-questions/m-p/460108/highlight/true#M...

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the links however they do not work. When I click on them it tells me the site is forbidden?

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the links however they do not work. When I click on them it tells me the site is forbidden?

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Well I guess I wasn't much help was I??  LOL  I don't know why the links don't work.

You can do a search yourself for these. Just type in DMP in the search window at the top of the page.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

Credit Scoring 101
Common Abbreviations
Frequently Requested Threads
Whats In Your FICO Score

[haulingthescoreup]

There are some technical things going on with the links. They're working on it, but in the meantime, try these (fingers crossed):

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Working-out-a-payment-plan/m-p/631956/highlight/true#M2...

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/DMP-Questions/m-p/199608#M93771

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/DMP/m-p/597749#M87986

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/DMP-questions/m-p/460108#M34803

eta: I have no idea whatsoever why these work and MVV's don't. They appear to be the same things. But anyway, give these a try.

When it comes to DMP's, you can go with anything that marty56 advises. He used one, and he knows the ins and outs. There are several other members with experience here as well. I * think * fishbjc is one, although I could well be wrong.

[MarineVietVet]

I guess I just didn't hold my head the right way while I typed!!!